The Council's approach towards equalities & diversity

The Council is committed to promoting equality and diversity and meeting its duties as a community leader, service provider and local employer.

Equality Act 2010

The Equality Act 2010 replaced a large number of previous equality laws with a single Act. This has helped to simplify the law, remove inconsistencies and make it a lot easier for organisations and individuals to understand. It strengthens the law tacking discrimination and inequality across all of the ‘protected characteristics’ set out in the Act.
The Council must have due regard to the need to:

Eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment, victimisation and any other conduct prohibited by the Act.

Improve equality of opportunity between people who share a protected characteristic and people who do not share it.

Foster good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and people who do not share it.

Protected Characteristics

The ‘protected characteristics’ set out in the Act are:

age

disability

gender reassignment

pregnancy and maternity

race – this includes ethnic or national origins, colour or nationality

religion or belief – this includes lack of belief

sex (men, women, boys, girls and transgender)

sexual orientation

The duty applies to marriage and civil partnership too, but only in relation to the first aim (to eliminate unlawful discrimination).

The Public Sector Equality Duty

The Public Sector Equality Duty is part of the Equality Act. It applies to public sector organisations, like councils. It says that we must meet the needs of all individuals in the way we work, when shaping policy, delivering services and in relation to our own employees.

Specific duties require us to set clear and measurable equality objectives and publish information about our performance that is available to everyone.

What St Albans City & District Council is doing

Here are some of the specific things the council are doing which help us to meet our duties.

We have published our Inclusion Strategy which sets out our vision and objectives for the next 3 years

We have established an Inclusion and Equalities Partnership, which sits under the Strategic Partnership, and leads on identifying issues and needs relating to deprivation, equalities, diversity and social inclusion and working in partnership to take appropriate action

We actively work with the local voluntary and community sector to support those organisations to meet the diverse needs of our communities

We carry out equalities monitoring as appropriate to ensure our policies do not disadvantage any group and that there is fair access to services

We use community impact assessments to inform our planning and decision making

We raise the awareness of all newly elected members and staff of the Equality Act and the Council’s duties under it

We promote equality of opportunity as an employer and seek to have a diverse workforce reflecting the make up of our local community

We carry out an equal pay audit every 3 years, the latest report can be found here.

Find out more

The Government Equalities Office has produced a series of guides called Equality Act 2010- What do I need to know? outlining the key changes in the law made by the act
Find out more about the specific Public Sector Equality Duty from the government's home office website.
Read the full equality act on the government's legislation website.

The Equality Advisory & Support Service operates a helpline which advises and assists individuals on issues relating to equality and human rights - www.equalityadvisoryservice.com